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PubMed2001

Validation of dizziness as a possible geriatric syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: While dizziness has traditionally been considered solely as a symptom of discrete diseases, recent findings from population-based studies of older persons suggest that it may often be a geriatric syndrome with multiple predisposing risk factors, representing impairments in diverse systems. To validate these findings, we identified predisposing risk factors for dizziness in a clinic-based population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Geriatric assessment center. PARTICIPANTS: 262 consecutive, eligible patients. MEASUREMENTS: Medical history and physical examination data were ascertained and characteristics of patients with and without a report of dizziness were compared. RESULTS: Seven factors were independently associated with a report of dizziness, namely depressive symptoms, cataracts, abnormal balance or gait, postural hypotension, diabetes, past myocardial infarction, and the use of three or more medications. Of patients with none of these risk factors, none reported dizziness. This proportion rose from 6% among patients with one factor, to 12%, 26%, and 51% among patients with two, three, and four or more factors, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of similar factors associated with dizziness in previous community-based cohorts and the present clinic-based cohort supports the possibility of a multifactorial etiology of dizziness in many older persons. A multifactorial intervention targeting the factors identified in these studies may be effective at reducing the frequency or severity of dizziness in older patients.

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PubMed2002

Implementing a mandatory geriatrics clerkship.

Due to the rapid growth in the proportion of U.S. citizens aged 65 and older (20% by 2030) it is imperative that U.S. medical schools train students who can provide quality care to the older population. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to report the experience of creating a 4-week, mandatory geriatrics clerkship for junior medical students. Funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences developed a mandatory, third-year clerkship in geriatric medicine. The clerkship included clinical experiences in outpatient clinics, transitional care units, nursing homes, hospice programs, and core didactic sessions. The sites for the clerkship were the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Hospital, community nursing homes, and community hospice programs in Little Rock, Arkansas. The entire junior class of 135 students participated in the new clerkship. Students were assessed through a three-station Objective Structured Clinical Examination followed by a brief post- encounter examination and faculty preceptor evaluations collected from each clinical site. Students evaluated the clerkship through written evaluations and focus group discussions. This paper demonstrates that students acquired sufficient cognitive knowledge to satisfactorily complete the clerkship but did not highly value the experience.

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PubMed2003

Ethical issues in end-of-life geriatric care: the approach of three monotheistic religions-Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam.

Ethical dilemmas pervade modern geriatric medicine. What is considered right or wrong will differ depending on, among other things, the patient's religion. The three Abrahamic monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity (its Catholic variant), and Islam all have carefully considered positions on medical ethics. Although much is held in common, there are significant differences. The authors present three clinical cases, each of which presents ethical dilemmas typical of geriatric care, especially at the end of life. On the basis of these scenarios, the normative ethical position of each religion is compared and contrasted. It is hoped that this approach will offer the geriatrician a useful approach to treating patients in an increasingly multicultural society.

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PubMed2003

Strategies to advance geriatric nursing: the John A. Hartford Foundation initiatives.

This article chronicles the efforts of the John A. Hartford Foundation to improve the health care of older adults by strategically investing $34 million in geriatric nursing programs nationally. It includes a brief background of the Foundation followed by a description of the Foundation's geriatric nursing programs and the lessons learned that could be relevant to a variety of audiences.

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PubMed2003

Restructuring primary care practices to manage geriatric syndromes: the ACOVE-2 intervention.

Despite evidence suggesting that primary care physicians do not address geriatric conditions adequately in practice, most efforts to change physicians' practice behaviors have been ineffective or too expensive to implement and sustain. In its second phase, the Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE-2) project has developed an intervention aimed at improving the care that primary care physicians provide for three geriatric conditions-falls, urinary incontinence, and cognitive impairment/dementia. The intervention addresses specific processes of care identified in the first phase of the ACOVE project (ACOVE-1) as important to the care of community-dwelling older persons. Beginning with case finding, the intervention uses a standardized multicomponent practice-change effort. The condition-specific intervention employs four methods of changing medical practice: efficient collection of condition-specific clinical data, medical record prompts to encourage performance of essential care processes, patient education materials and activation of the patient's role in follow-up, and physician decision support and physician education. Moreover, the costs of the intervention are low. The effectiveness of the intervention in improving the processes of care for these conditions and clinical outcomes will need to be evaluated in controlled trials.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed2002

[Introduction to geriatric oncology].

The demographic changes will result in a profound increase of the number of elderly people within the next years. As a consequence of the age dependent increase of the incidence and mortality rate of cancer these changes will bring an increase in the number of elderly people with cancer. There is a number of differences between young and old patients diagnosed with cancer. This must result in an adaption of standardised oncological procedures, mainly designed for younger patients, to the special situation of elderly patients. The differences between young and old patients with cancer may be depicted by a structured geriatric assessment. Suggestions for the structure of such an assessment exist. Ongoing clinical trials have to demonstrate, whether or not the inclusion of a geriatric oncological assessment in the decision making process will result in an improvement of treatment results in elderly cancer patients diagnosed with cancer.

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PubMed2005

[Gerocomy -- gerontology -- geriatrics. The naming of a modern medical discipline].

300 years ago, the lawyer Theodosius Schöpffer coined the notion gerontology. On this occasion, this paper offers terms and corresponding concepts of gerontology which arose in the western tradition: 1. From the Graeco-Roman antiquity until 1750, gerocomy (the care for the elderly) was defined as a branch of medicine, but in practice almost did not exist. Basically, it provided instructions for a way of life in conformity with the physiological circumstances of elderly people. Its implementation was left to the patient. Furthermore, in the early modern times medical treatises dealt more frequently with diseases of the elderly and their therapy. The gerokomia succeeded in evolving a specific technical literature. Yet it failed to get institutionalized. 2. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ignaz Nascher interpreted geriatrics as a counterpart to pediatrics and opposed it to a clinical-pathological consideration of old age before 1900. He aimed at the exploration and treatment of old age as an autonomous physiological entity. Under the influence of the demographic transformation the institutionalization of geriatrics as a interdisciplinary branch within medicine could be realized relatively soon. 3. Around 1930, we experience the recreation of the notion gerontology, initially restricted to medical gerontology. However, with the integration of the non-medical sciences of old age the spectrum and the objectives changed. Today gerontology signifies on a international level a generic term or independent scientific discipline beside medicine. This evolution corresponds with the intentions pursued 300 years ago.

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PubMed1995

A trial of annual in-home comprehensive geriatric assessments for elderly people living in the community.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The prevention of disability in elderly people poses a challenge for health care and social services. We conducted a three-year, randomized, controlled trial of the effect of annual in-home comprehensive geriatric assessment and follow-up for people living in the community who were 75 years of age or older. The 215 people in the intervention group were seen at home by gerontologic nurse practitioners who, in collaboration with geriatricians, evaluated problems and risk factors for disability, gave specific recommendations, and provided health education. The 199 people in the control group received their regular medical care. The main outcome measures were the prevention of disability, defined as the need for assistance in performing the basic activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, feeding, grooming, transferring from bed to chair, and moving around inside the house) or the instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., cooking, handling finances and medication, housekeeping, and shopping), and the prevention of nursing home admissions. RESULTS: At three years, 20 people in the intervention group (12 percent of 170 surviving participants) and 32 in the control group (22 percent of 147 surviving participants) required assistance in performing the basic activities of daily living (adjusted odds ratio, 0.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.2 to 0.8; P = 0.02). The number of persons who were dependent on assistance in performing the instrumental activities of daily living but not the basic activities did not differ significantly between the two groups. Nine people in the intervention group (4 percent) and 20 in the control group (10 percent) were permanently admitted to nursing homes (P = 0.02). Acute care hospital admissions and short-term nursing home admissions did not differ significantly between the two groups. In the second and third years of the study, there were significantly more visits to physicians among the participants in the intervention group than among those in the control group (mean number of visits per month, 1.41 in year 2 and 1.27 in year 3 in the intervention group, as compared with 1.11 and 0.92 visits, respectively, in the control group; P = 0.007 and P = 0.001, respectively). The cost of the intervention for each year of disability-free life gained was about $46,000. CONCLUSIONS: A program of in-home comprehensive geriatric assessments can delay the development of disability and reduce permanent nursing home stays among elderly people living at home.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2005

Geriatric interventions: the evidence base for comprehensive health care services for older people.

Specialist geriatric services apply a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation and management approach to the multidimensional and usually interrelated medical, functional and psychosocial problems faced by at-risk frail elderly people. This paper examines currently available data on geriatric interventions and finds ample evidence supporting both the efficacy and the cost-effectiveness of these specialist interventions when utilised in appropriately targeted patients. It is proposed that substantial investment in these programs is required to meet the future demands of Australia's ageing population.

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PubMed1996

Does the NAIP classification predict length of stay in rehabilitation, geriatrics and palliative care?

The Australian National Non-Acute Inpatient Project (NAIP) reported its findings on casemix in rehabilitation and slow stream geriatric medicine in October 1992. It proposed a per diem NAIP classification of 19 classes using six major clinical groups and the resource utilisation groups version three activities of daily living index (RUG III ADL index). Weightings were determined based on time spent by clinical staff in treating these patients. A quality management study was undertaken in the rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care wards of the Illawarra Area Health Service for three months in 1993, analysing length of stay and cost against the predictive weights of the NAIP classification. The study concluded that this classification was an acceptable predictor of per diem costs of care in these wards of the Illawarra but was not a good predictor of length of stay.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

ICF Core Set for geriatric patients in early post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

PURPOSE: The aim of this consensus process was to decide on a first version of the ICF Core Set for geriatric patients in early post-acute rehabilitation facilities. METHODS: The ICF Core Set development involved a formal decision-making and consensus process, integrating evidence gathered from preliminary studies including focus groups of health professionals, a systematic review of the literature and empiric data collection from patients. RESULTS: Fifteen experts selected a total of 123 second-level categories. The largest number of categories was selected from the ICF component Body Functions (51 categories or 41%). 14 (11%) of the categories were selected from the component Body Structures, 30 (29%) from the component Activities and Participation, and 28 (23%) from the component Environmental Factors. CONCLUSION: The Post-acute ICF Core Set for geriatric patients is a clinical framework to comprehensively assess patients in early post-acute rehabilitation facilities, particularly in an interdisciplinary setting. This first version of the ICF Core Set will be further tested through empiric studies in German-speaking countries and internationally.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2006

Management of an outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease among geriatric patients.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a nosocomial outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD). DESIGN: A traditional outbreak investigation. SETTING: Geriatric department of a tertiary care teaching hospital from March through April 2003. METHODS: The outbreak was detected by the C. difficile surveillance program of the infection control unit. CDAD was diagnosed by stool culture and fecal toxin A detection with a qualitative rapid immunoassay. Isolates of C. difficile were serotyped and genotyped using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: The incidence of CDAD increased from 27 cases per 100,000 patient-days in the 6-month period before the outbreak to 99 cases per 100,000 patient-days during the outbreak. This outbreak involved 21 of 92 patients in 4 geriatric wards, which were located at 2 geographically distinct sites and staffed by the same medical team. The mean age of patients was 83 years (range, 71-100 years). Five (24%) of the 21 patients had community-acquired diarrhea, and secondary hospital transmission resulted in 3 clusters involving 16 patients. Serotyping and genotyping were performed on isolates in stool specimens from 19 different patients; 16 of these isolates were serotype A1, whereas 3 displayed profiles different from the outbreak strain. Management of this outbreak consisted in reinforcement of contact isolation precautions for patients with diarrhea, cohorting of infected patients in the same ward, and promotion of hand hygiene. Relapses occurred in 6 (29%) of 21 patients. CONCLUSION: Control of this rapidly developing outbreak of CDAD was obtained with early implementation of cohorting and ward closure and reinforcement of environmental disinfection, hand hygiene, and enteric isolation precautions.

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PubMed1999

Herpes zoster in the elderly: issues related to geriatrics.

This article reviews specific clinical and research issues of herpes zoster related to geriatric medicine. Salient epidemiological and clinical issues include the increasing probability of zoster and postherpetic neuralgia with aging, age-related decline in immunity to varicella-zoster virus, the functional and psychosocial impact of zoster on the quality of life of the elderly, illness behavior in elderly patients with zoster, and varicella-zoster virus transmission and control in the nursing home. The role of antiviral therapy, corticosteroids, and analgesics; the measurement and analysis of pain, health-related quality of life, and functional status; and development of the varicella vaccine in the management of zoster in the elderly are also emphasized. Fertile research opportunities exist within these areas for investigators interested in infectious diseases, geriatrics, and other zoster-related disciplines.

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PubMed1982

The emergency evacuation of a geriatrics hospital in Toxteth.

The evacuation of a 102-bed geriatrics hospital in the middle of the night and from the centre of a riot in Toxteth, Liverpool, is described, together with its effect on the patients involved. No increase in the mortality rate occurred during the six weeks following the evacuation, but a significant increase in morbidity was found. Specific recommendations are made for action to be taken should other city centre geriatrics hospitals need to be evacuated in similar circumstances.

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PubMed1985

Geriatric medicine--the style of practice.

The three main styles of geriatric practice in the UK at present are: combined acute and rehabilitation with separate long-stay wards (37.5%), separate acute, rehabilitation and long-stay wards (24.4%) and combined acute, rehabilitation and long-stay wards (21.1%). The first of these has the highest bed/population ratio, the second the highest discharge rate per bed and per population and the third has the highest consultant/bed ratio. There is some relationship between style of practice and geographical characteristics of the area. The numbers of specialist units (ortho-geriatrics etc.) are also described.

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PubMed1987

Senior House Officer training in geriatric medicine.

The training of the 72 Senior House Officers working in geriatric medicine in the Yorkshire Region was assessed by questionnaire. Most of the 67 respondents considered their training requirements in geriatric medicine had been fulfilled and experience had been gained in acutely-ill and long-stay elderly patients. However, there were deficiencies in the provision of topic teaching, case presentation meetings, rehabilitation instruction, and in experience of the day hospital and domiciliary assessment visits. Attention to the training requirements of the Senior House Officer grade could help to improve care of the elderly in both hospital and general practice.

Geriatrics↗

PubMed1990

A prospective controlled trial of a geriatric consultation team in an acute-care hospital.

Attempts to prove the usefulness of geriatric consultation teams (GCT) in acute-care settings have been inconclusive. We have completed a prospective, controlled trial of a GCT in an acute-care setting, aiming our interventions at a specific subgroup of elderly patients. One hundred and thirty-two out of 352 (37.5%) patients met the inclusion criteria with 66 each being assigned to the intervention and the control groups. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups. Patients in the intervention group received follow-up after discharge from hospital by the geriatric service. We found that the intervention was associated with improved 6-month survival (p less than 0.01), improved Barthel Index at 1 year (p less than 0.01), and a trend towards decreased reliance on institutional care (hospital or nursing home) during the year of follow-up. The benefits occurred principally in patients who were discharged to a nursing home. Our findings support the utility of GCT and highlight the importance of focusing the intervention and providing follow-up after discharge from hospital.

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PubMed1993

Detecting depression in elderly medically ill patients: the use of the Geriatric Depression Scale compared with medical and nursing observations.

In a study of 59 elderly medically ill in-patients, 35% were found to have significant depressive symptomatology, as detected by the Geriatric Mental Status Schedule (GMSS). Of two screening methods, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) performed satisfactorily but detection by nurses was poor. Acknowledgement of depression in medical casenotes was low. Training of nurses might improve detection; otherwise a mood-rating scale such as the GDS should be incorporated into routine practice.

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